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Book Details

ISBN 139781849515481

Paperback392 pages

About This Book

Learn to use Yii more efficiently through plentiful Yii recipes on diverse topics

Make the most efficient use of your controller and views and reuse them

Automate error tracking and understand the Yii log and stack trace

Full of practically useful solutions and concepts that you can use in your application, with clearly explained code and all the necessary screenshots

Who This Book Is For

If you are a developer with a good knowledge of PHP5, are familiar with the basics of Yii, and have tried to develop applications using Yii, then this book is for you. Knowledge of the object oriented approach and MVC pattern will be a great advantage as Yii uses these extensively.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Under the Hood

Introduction

Using getters and setters

Using Yii events

Using import and autoloading

Using exceptions

Configuring components

Configuring widget defaults

Using Yii core collections

Working with request

Chapter 2: Router, Controller, and Views

Introduction

Configuring URL rules

Generating URLs by path

Using regular expressions in URL rules

Creating URL rules for static pages

Providing your own URL rules at runtime

Using base controller

Using external actions

Displaying static pages with CViewAction

Using flash messages

Using controller context in a view

Reusing views with partials

Using clips

Using decorators

Defining multiple layouts

Paginating and sorting data

Chapter 3: AJAX and jQuery

Introduction

Loading a block through AJAX

Managing assets

Including resources into the page

Working with JSON

Passing configuration from PHP to JavaScript

Handling variable number of inputs

Chapter 4: Working with Forms

Introduction

Writing your own validators

Uploading files

Adding CAPTCHA

Customizing CAPTCHA

Creating a custom input widget with CInputWidget

Chapter 5: Testing your Application

Introduction

Setting up the testing environment

Writing and running unit tests

Using fixtures

Testing the application with functional tests

Generating code coverage reports

Chapter 6: Database, Active Record, and Model Tricks

Introduction

Getting data from a database

Defining and using multiple DB connections

Using scopes to get models for different languages

Processing model fields with AR event-like methods

Applying markdown and HTML

Highlighting code with Yii

Automating timestamps

Setting an author automatically

Implementing single table inheritance

Using CDbCriteria

Chapter 7: Using Zii Components

Introduction

Using data providers

Using grids

Using lists

Creating custom grid columns

Chapter 8: Extending Yii

Introduction

Creating model behaviors

Creating components

Creating reusable controller actions

Creating reusable controllers

Creating a widget

Creating CLI commands

Creating filters

Creating modules

Creating a custom view renderer

Making extensions distribution-ready

Chapter 9: Error handling, Debugging, and Logging

Introduction

Using different log routes

Analyzing the Yii error stack trace

Logging and using the context information

Implementing your own smart 404 handler

Chapter 10: Security

Introduction

Using controller filters

Using CHtml and CHtmlPurifier to prevent XSS

Preventing SQL injections

Preventing CSRF

Using RBAC

Chapter 11: Performance Tuning

Introduction

Following best practices

Speeding up sessions handling

Using cache dependencies and chains

Profiling an application with Yii

Chapter 12: Using External Code

Introduction

Using Zend Framework from Yii

Customizing the Yii autoloader

Using Kohana inside Yii

Using PEAR inside Yii

Chapter 13: Deployment

Introduction

Changing the Yii directories layout

Moving an application out of webroot

Sharing the framework directory

Moving configuration parts into separate files

Using multiple configurations to simplify the deployment

Implementing and executing cron jobs

Maintenance mode

What You Will Learn

Make internal Yii features, such as events and collections, useful

Get the maximum out of your Controller and Views and make them reusable

Work with jQuery, JavaScript, and AJAX the Yii way

Use "hidden" core Yii input widgets and write your own widgets

Make your application error-free using the TDD approach

Use Active Record efficiently

Utilize Zii components such as grids and data providers

Implement, package, and share your code as a reusable extension

Automate error tracking and understand the Yii log and stack trace

Keep your implementation secure, filter input, and escape output

Tune your application for best performance and learn general performance principles and Yii-related settings

Include non-Yii code, such as Zend Framework or PEAR, in your application

Simplify team development and manage Yii configuration in a very efficient way

In Detail

When Alex told me he was about to write a Yii cookbook about a year ago, I was wondering how original it would be, considering the fact that there was already an online user-contributed cookbook (aka. Yii wiki). It turned out Alex produced a book that is not only full of wisdom about how to use Yii effectively, but also presented in such a systematic way that it can be taken as an essential companion book to the definitive guide to Yii. In fact, Alex has successfully intrigued the interest of every member in the Yii developer team when he asked for review and comments on his newly finished book chapters.

As the founder and the lead developer of the Yii framework, I feel this book is a must-read for every Yii programmer. While this book does not describe directly the rules set by Yii, it shows how to program with Yii from a practical perspective. People who are driven by tight project schedules will find this book very handy as it gives ready-to-use solutions to many problems they may face in their projects; people who are already familiar with Yii will also find this book very informative as most problem solutions given in the book can be considered as officially recommended because they have undergone thorough review of every Yii developer team member. Alex, through this book and his active participation in the Yii project, proved himself to be a great programmer as well as a good writer.

Qiang XueLead developer of the Yii framework

Yii framework is a rapidly growing PHP5 MVC framework often referred to as Rails for PHP. It has become a solid base for many exciting web applications such as Stay.com and Russia Today's meetfriends.rt.com and can be a good base for your developments. Yii is an object-oriented, high-performance, component-based PHP web application framework. Yii is pronounced as Yee and is an acronym for "Yes It Is!".

Familiar with Yii and want to exploit it to its full potential, but do not know how to go about it? Yii 1.1 Application Development Cookbook will show you how to use Yii efficiently. You will learn about implementing shortcuts using core features, creating your own reusable code base, using test-driven development, and many more topics that will escalate your knowledge in no time at all!

Yii 1.1 Application Development Cookbook will help you learn more about Yii framework and application development practices in general with demonstrations of shortcuts and information about dangerous things you should not do.

Grouped in 13 chapters, the recipes will assist you to write your applications exploiting Yii core functionality to its full potential. The chapters are generally independent of each other and you can start reading from the chapter you need most, whether it is "AJAX and jQuery", "Database, Active Record and Model Tricks" or "Extending Yii". The most interesting topics include Yii application deployment, a guide to writing your own extensions, advanced error handling, debugging and logging, application security, and performance tuning.

Yii 1.1 Application Development Cookbook will help you utilize Yii functionalities completely and efficiently.

Authors

Alexander Makarov

Alexander Makarav is an experienced engineer from Russia and has been a Yii framework core team member since 2010. Before joining the Yii core team, he participated in the CodeIgniter community growth in Russia. In 2009, he finished the Russian translation of the framework documentation and created the Russian community website. In 2012, he released the Russian version of the book along with Russian community members. In the same year, he was the technical reviewer for three more books:

Yii Rapid Application Development Hotshot, Lauren O'Meara and James Hamilton

In his free time, Alexander writes technical blog at http://rmcreative.ru/, speaks at conferences, and enjoys movies, music, traveling, photography, and languages. He currently resides in Voronezh, Russia with his beloved wife and daughter.

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Learning

As a new user, these step-by-step tutorial guides will give you all the practical skills necessary to become competent and efficient.

Beginner's Guide

Friendly, informal tutorials that provide a practical introduction using examples, activities, and challenges.

Essentials

Fast paced, concentrated introductions showing the quickest way to put the tool to work in the real world.

Cookbook

A collection of practical self-contained recipes that all users of the technology will find useful for building more powerful and reliable systems.

Blueprints

Guides you through the most common types of project you'll encounter, giving you end-to-end guidance on how to build your specific solution quickly and reliably.

Mastering

Take your skills to the next level with advanced tutorials that will give you confidence to master the tool's most powerful features.

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Progressing

Building on core skills you already have, these titles share solutions and expertise so you become a highly productive power user.